Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake
I don’t know if there is a classier dessert than mousse. It is classical French, light and airy, and when made right is absolutely beautiful. It can be served in a variety of ways; in a bowl, parfait style, or even chilled into cake form. The best part about mouse is it can be made dozens of different ways. Sure elitists will say one way is better than others, but you can always ignore them. This isn’t carbonara. This triple chocolate mousse cake sits on a chocolate graham cracker crust, with a dark chocolate disk for garnish. Serve with a glass of port wine for your next party and people will definitely be impressed.
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The milk chocolate and dark chocolate layers just use the Julia Child recipe, and the white chocolate layer forgoes the rum and coffee for skim milk to better keep the white color. The layers are chilled one by one until they are set, before the next layer can be poured over, which is then immediately chilled. In the end, you should have a perfectly stable mousse cake ready to cut and impress your guests.
As you want to keep the cake as even as possible, I suggest making equal amounts of each color. There will be some mousse left over, so after you pour an inch layer you can use the rest of the mousse for another dish, or serve it as is in a nice parfait.
The chocolate graham cracker crust is easy to make as well, and can be made well ahead of time.
Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake Ingredients
Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust
1/3 cup Butter, melted
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/4 cups Graham Crackers; crumbled
Dark Chocolate Layer
170 grams 80-90% Dark Chocolate
170 grams Butter, cut into small pieces
60 ml Coffee; instant espresso works fine
170 grams Sugar + 1 tablespoon of Sugar
4 Eggs; separated
30 ml Dark Rum
15 ml Water
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
Milk Chocolate Layer
170 grams 80-90% Milk Chocolate; use something very good quality. None of that hydrogenated oil Hershey’s stuff
170 grams Butter, cut into small pieces
60 ml Coffee; instant espresso works fine
170 grams Sugar + 1 tablespoon of Sugar
4 Eggs; separated
30 ml Dark Rum
15 ml Water
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt
White Chocolate Layer
170 grams 80-90% White Chocolate Chips
170 grams Butter, cut into small pieces
170 grams Sugar
90 ml Heavy Cream
4 Eggs; separated
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Wow that’s a lot of ingredients
Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake Instructions
1. As everything else is similar, long, and repetitive, let’s start with the graham cracker crust. Put the brown sugar, cocoa powder, and graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Slowly trickle in the melted butter until everything starts to form a sort of paste. Remove from the food processor and press the graham cracker crust dough into a spring form cake pan. Place in the fridge while you make the triple chocolate mousse cake layers.
2. Beginning with the dark chocolate layer (although technically you could do these in any order you want), melt in a double boiler the chocolate, butter, and coffee together. When liquid and well combined remove from heat and set aside.
3. Put another bowl over the boiling water and whisk together the sugar (minus the 1 tablespoon), egg yolks, rum, and the 15 ml of water. Keep whisking for about 3 minutes until you get a thick consistency like mayonnaise.
4. Remove from the heat and place the bowl over ice to cool down and stop the cooking process.
5. When cooled a bit, fold the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Do it slowly and constantly fold to prevent any egg from actually cooking.
6. In another bowl beat together the egg whites with the salt until frothy. You can use an electric mixer until you get falling peaks. Once thickened add the tablespoon of sugar until thick and shiny. Add in the vanilla.
7. Slowly fold in the whipped whites into the chocolate mixture without overdoing it. Just do it until the color is homogeneous, and no more.
8. Remove the spring form cake pan from the fridge and pour in the mousse, about a 1 inch layer. Place in the freezer to chill faster while you make the next layer (you won’t ruin the mousse, it’ll only be in there about a half hour.
9. Making the white chocolate layer is a lot easier. Melt the white chocolate pieces in a double boiler with the butter and sugar. When liquid and combined set aside.
10. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar over the double boiler until thickened, then set on ice to stop the cooking process.
11. Mix the egg mixture with the chocolate mixture slowly, folding constantly.
12. Make whipped cream out of the heavy cream and vanilla extract (we aren’t using the egg whites for this layer). Fold the chocolate mixture into the whipped cream until homogeneous but do not overdo it.
13. Remove the dark chocolate mousse layer from the freezer and test that it is “solid” enough to put a new layer on. It usually is after 20 minutes or so, which is how long the white chocolate layer takes, but if it isn’t, let it chill for a few more minutes up to a half hour. Pour over the white chocolate layer, and back in the freezer it goes.
14. The milk chocolate layer is exactly the same as the dark chocolate layer. Repeat steps 2-8. When poured, do not place back in the freezer but into the fridge, to chill normally for at least 4 hours. Garnish with a dark chocolate disk, or fresh berries.
Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake Notes
This seems like an extremely convoluted recipe, and to be honest it kind of is. It is completely unnecessary and the only thing it does is look pretty when served. It taste’s almost no different than a regular mousse, as all the layers mix together in your mouth anyways…but that’s the joy of cooking.
